As the relentless wave of pitch-black silhouettes swarmed over them, closing in to swallow them whole...
CRACK!!!
the sudden, deafending sound of shattering glass tore through the void.
a sharp beam of intense, piercing blue light erupted from thin air, washing completely over darshan and chandu.
darshan forced his eyes open, pushing through the suffocating weight to lift his head.
standing directly in front of them, intercepting the darkness, was an imposing six-foot-tall figure.
"who is this guy?" darshan's mind reeled.
sensing the dark shapes began to multiply, their numbers swelling to surround them, the stranger didn't hesitate. he swung the staff with brutal, clinical precision.
"who exactly is he?!"
the impact of the stranger's staff was devastating.
the moment moment the staff struck, the black silhouette collapsed, their forms violently glitching out into distorted digital noise before evaporating.
"they're.... they're glitching...." darshan stared in absolute bewildement. "this makes no sense."
panic snapping him back to reality, darshan whipped around to check on his friend.
his heart stopped. the space beside him was completely empty.
"ah? chandu?!"
he spun around in circles, his eyes darting frantically through the darkness.
"chandu!!" he screamed.
meanwhile, the tall stranger was locked in a brutal melee with the remaining entities. catching darshan's frantic movements out of the corner of his eye, the man cursed under his breath.
"these boys are trapped inside a 'hollow bubble glass' ," the stranger thought, his grip tightening on his weapon.
"i have to force a way out and drag them through, no matter what."
with a roar, he unleashed a furious barrage of strikes against the oncoming horde.
darshan was practically hyperventilating, his eyes scanning the pitch-black void for any sign of his roomate.
his gaze was suddenly pulled toward the source of the neon blue light, which emitted a low vibrating hum.
gumm.... gumm...
"that blue light..." darshan thought, hope flaring in his chest. "is that the exit? is that the way back to the real world?"
sensing darshan's hesitation, the stranger shattered another shadow creature and roared over his shoulder:
"hey! listen to me! you need to run toward that blue light right now and get out of here! if you stay in this place any longer, it will consume you! move!"
"b-but my friend!" darshan cried back, tears stinging his eyes. "he was right here! i can't find him!"
the chaos of the battlefield drownd out his words; the stranger could barely hear him over the screeching of the entities. "just go! save yourself! run!"
"but chandu..." darshan faltered, torn between survival and loyalty.
"GO!!!" the man shrieked.
a tear slipped down darshan's cheek, cutting through the grime on his face.
"I'm sorry, chandu."
turning his back on the void, darshan bolted toward the radiant blue light.
behind him, the stranger stood his ground against the swarm. he slammed hard his normal staff against the invisible boundaries of the space.
another resonant, reality-splitting crack echoed through the abyss, tearing the hollow glass illusion wide open.
darshan didn't look back. he sprinted full speed, throwing himself directly into the building blue glow.
seeing their prey escape, the black entities let out a collective, frustrated hiss and backed away the stranger.
seizing the opening, the tall stranger turned and dove into the blue light right after darshan.
darshan tumbled forward, crashing heavily onto a patch of coarse grass.
gasping for air, he opened his eyes and slowly sat up, taking in his surroundings. his breath hitched.
rolling hills and jagged mountains out as far as the eye could see.
"where.... where am i?" he whispered, his head spinning.
the landscape was profoundly unsettling. the mountains didn't look like any rock formation on earth they were laced with glowing, pulsating blue veins that throbbed rhythmically in the terrain.
"isn't earth... it can't be. where did i end up?"
"hey. can you hear me?"
the sudden, gruff voice shattered his panic. "hey!"
darshan whipped his head around. the tall stranger was standing over him, catching his breath.
"y-yes.." darshan stammered.
"get up. quickly," the man commanded, his eyes scanning the horizon. "it's not safe for us to linger out in the open here."
"but my friend.." darshan's voice brike. "i lost him. he's still back there-"
without a word, the man reached up and unclasped his heavy black cloak, pulling it back to reveal what he had been carrying slung over his shoulder.
it was chandu. he was unconscious, but breathing.
"i pulled your friend out of there before i even came to secure you," the man said flatly.
darshan stared, utterly dumbfounded. "before you saved me? how is that even possible? he was standing right next to me the entire time!"
the stranger readjusted chandu's weight on his shoulder. "i don't have time to explain the logistics to you right now. move your legs. let's go."
left with no choice, darshan swallowed his questions, scrambled to his feet, and silently followed the mysterious man.
as they walked, darshan couldn't help but look up at the sky, utterly paralyzed by the surral majasty of it all.
"this place look so weird... the sky was brillient, toxic shade of orange, chocked with heavy, swirling gray clouds. below them, pulsing blue lines inside the jagged mountains looked like glowing neaural pathways and glowing veins."
"where are we?" darshan whispered, unable to contain awe and terror. "what is this place?"
the man didn't slow his pace. "we are currently trapped inside an alternate dimension."
darshan stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes wide. "an alternate... dimension?!"
the man shot him a sharp look. "look, i am in no position to explain the lore of this universe to you right now. i need to get us to safety, i'll break everything down for you later. for now, just shut up and walk."
darshan swallowed hard."right. okay."
silently, darshan kept pace with stranger, who carried chandu through the bizzare terrain. soon, the rocky mountains gave way to a dense, towering forest.
the trees here were colossal, their trunks twisting unnaturally high into the orange sky.
but it wasn't just visuals that terrified darshan it was the sound.
ever since they arrived, a low, ominous vibration had been echoing through the atmosphere. it was a constant, unrelenting hum.
gumm.... gumm...
the sound seemed to vibrate directly inside darshan's skull, making his nerves twitch and his muscles tremble with instinctual dread.
finally, the stranger led them to the base of an exceptionally massive tree.
"what is this place?" darshan murmured.
built directly into the collosal roots of the tree was a concealed , reinforced door.
the stranger pushed it open, gesturing for darshan to follow him inside.
as they stepped through the threshold, the stranger called out into the dim, spacious interior.
"sarunya! check this boy's condition immediately!" with a heavy sigh, he carefully laid chandu down on surface.
a young woman stepped out from the shadows. sarunya was beautiful, appearing to be around nineteen years old, with sharp, intilligent eyes.
"welcome back, viyog," she said softly, quickly moving toward the cot.
darshan stood by the entrance, his jaw practically hitting the floor as he looked around. "how is it this huge inside a tree?!"
from the outside, it looked like a simple hollow trunk, but the interior was vast, structured like hidden sanctuary.
the tall stranger's name was viyog.
and viyog and sarunya hiding in this hidden sanctuary.
as viyog stepped back to wipe the sweat from his brow, sarunya immediately bagan examining the unconcious chandu.
TO BE CONTINUED.....
Comments (0)
See all